Angela Gervasi was enjoying a day off on Thursday when she got a text from a co-worker: “Have you heard?”
Her co-worker quickly filled her in: P.J. Clarke’s, the restaurant where she worked in Philadelphia, was letting her and some other employees go. Confirmation came in a letter citing “developments” with the coronavirus outbreak. By Monday, the place had shut down.
Gervasi barely had time to process the bad news before she got more: The Florida radio station where she had been applying for a job told her that the hiring process might be delayed as the station shifted to a work-from-home setup. Then, on Monday, she learned that another local restaurant, where she was training as a cook, was closing.
“Everyone is afraid to hire,” said Gervasi, 24, who is looking for freelance work to support herself. “Nobody really knows what’s about to happen.”
However events unfold, one thing is becoming clear: As the effects of the coronavirus pandemic hit the US job market, the damage looks likely to be much deeper and longer lasting than seemed possible even a week ago.
Marriott International, the hotel operator, said on Tuesday that it would begin furloughing tens of thousands of employees worldwide.
Restaurants, coffee shops, gyms and other small businesses have begun laying off workers outright. On Monday, a flood of inquiries from newly jobless New Yorkers crashed the website for the state’s unemployment insurance system.
With striking speed, Democrats and Republicans in Washington have embraced proposals for cash payments to Americans to help offset the economic damage. On Tuesday, President Trump endorsed the move, after previously pushing for a payroll-tax cut instead.
Relatively few companies outside the hospitality industry have announced significant job cuts, with many saying they will continue to pay employees even while they are closed, though often for fewer hours of work than normal.
But that cushion seems unsustainable. Most small businesses do not have the financial buffer to pay workers for long if revenue dries up.
